The Power Shift: Analysing Tranformation of Traditional Journalists to Digital Opinion Leaders and Newsfluencers Navigating with Algorithmic Apprehensions, Echochambers and Tribal Polarization

Abstract

A radical power shift has radicalized institutional journalism paradigms and gradually replacing it with hybrid, platformed journalism of digital media where traditional journalists are becoming Newsfluencers, content creators and digital opinion leaders. The study has employed qualitative research design to interview journalists who have experienced this complex transformation and navigating the multifaceted dimensions of digital platformed journalism. The findings of study have suggested that platformed journalism presents new paradigms of independence, freedom, mass reach to audiences as influencer yet it brings challenges to deal with online trolls and polarized consumers. The Algorithmic apprehensions, echo chambers, tribal polarization, hyperconnectivity, freedom vs responsibility, context collapse are reshaping media landscapes for both the journalists as content creators and audiences as consumers.